Best Community Platforms · alternatives
Best Circle alternatives (2026)
6 alternatives to Circle in community platforms, ranked by entry price. Circle starts at $89/mo. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.
Key takeaways
- Cheaper than Circle: Discourse, Skool, Heartbeat.
- Free alternatives: Discourse.
- Closest by price: Discourse ($0/mo), Skool ($9/mo), Heartbeat ($49/mo).
Circle alternatives compared
| # | Alternative | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Discourse | $0/mo | Yes | — | Developer communities and open-source projects needing a public, SEO-indexed forum | discourse.org |
| 2 | Skool | $9/mo | No | — | Creators, coaches, and hobbyists wanting a dead-simple community + course platform | skool.com |
| 3 | Heartbeat | $49/mo | No | — | Coaches and consultants building paid membership communities with courses and events | heartbeat.chat |
| 4 | Kajabi STALE · 2026-06-14 | $89/mo | No | — | Solopreneurs and expert creators who want one tool replacing email, courses, community, and website | kajabi.com |
| 5 | Mighty Networks | $95/mo | No | — | Creators and coaches building revenue-generating membership communities | mightynetworks.com |
| 6 | Bettermode | $399/mo | No | — | B2B SaaS companies building branded customer communities (support, feedback, advocacy) | bettermode.com |
Data current through 2026-09-12. STALE marks a row with at least one plan we have not re-checked at its source in over 30 days. 1 of 6 rows above is marked. Compare any two directly on the Community Platforms index.